One in 10 Brits have never stayed in the same job for more than a year

One in 10 people in the UK has never stayed with the same employer for more than a year.

That’s one of the findings by Acuity Training, who recently surveyed 2,000+ people in the UK to ask them the longest time they’ve remained in a position with a single employer.

The survey also found:

• On average, the longest someone has stayed with a single employer is 10.1 years
• This rises to over 15 years for those aged 55 and over
• While 1 in 10 Brits has never stayed with the same employer for more than a year, this figure rises to a massive 1 in 5 for those in London
• There are some 40,000 searches every single month in Google UK for “resignation letter template”

We’ve detailed some further findings below.

While having simply been in the working world for longer will play a part in the length of time someone has stayed with a single employer, we’re certainly finding surprisingly high numbers of people not sticking around too long!

Amongst the 35 to 44 year olds, of which we can assume many have been in the working world for a upwards of a decade, 5.15% have never stayed with a single employer for more than 3 months.

12% of this age group hasn’t managed to last beyond a year.

Average longest tenure

The average longest tenure with a single employer across all age groups is an impressive 10.1 years. This rises to over 15 years for the over 55s.

But in London across all ages it drops to 7 years.

Should we worry about people not sticking around?

Ben Richardson of Acuity Training said, “The average longest employment tenure in the UK is 10.1 years. Of course, this is heavily weighted towards those over 55. But it does show that, traditionally at least, people are very much prepared to stay with an employer.

We can’t prevent staff turnover altogether! I think we have to accept, as employers, that some people will move for reasons beyond our control. The gig economy, the trends in diversifying income and so forth, mean that you can’t always stop someone leaving a position. But I think our job is to ensure employees feel as motivated as possible, are treated well and are given opportunities to develop.”